


Until You See Black

by worldwideawesome



Series: Maknae Centric [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Appendicitis, Fluff, Gen, Hurt, Illnesses, Jeongin appendicitis, Not actually in a relationship, Pain, Protective Hyungs, Sickfic, Vomiting, Yang Jeongin | I.N-centric, all turns out fine in the end, appendix burst, jeongin has appendicitis, maknae centric, sick, they just love their maknae a lot, worried hyungs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-03-09 20:33:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18924496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worldwideawesome/pseuds/worldwideawesome
Summary: Jeongin's sick but doesn't want to worry anyone so he keeps it to himself. It's not until something major happens when his hyungs realise they should’ve taken action long ago.





	1. Chapter 1

Jeongin woke suddenly to a pain unlike he'd ever felt before in his side. Groaning at the unbearable stabbing pain, he lay on his back, unable to get up as he wrapped one of his arms around the lower right side of his abdomen where the pain was coming from.

"What the heck?" he thought to himself as the pain finally started to fade after what felt like hours but had probably only been a few minutes. Reaching for his phone from under his pillow and bringing it out, he blinked blearily at the bright screen in front of him. After a few seconds of squinting at the bright glare, he was finally able to read the large numbers in the middle of his screen as 03:00. Groaning slightly, he managed to carefully manoeuvre himself into a sitting position before slipping out of bed.

As soon as he stood up his legs gave way slightly, causing him to sit back down on his bed again to regain his balance. After taking a few deep breaths, Jeongin finally decided to try again, this time being successful and managing to make his way carefully to the door on the other side of his room. He crept as quietly as he could, considering he was still in slight pain and limping a little, careful to not wake any of his hyungs.

As soon as Jeongin reached the bathroom he sighed in relief, carefully perching himself on the edge of the bath tub. The past few weeks he'd been having random bursts of pain in his stomach and side, but tonight was way worse than he'd ever experienced before. Usually it was just a dull ache that he could simply pass off as hunger since he'd recently lost his apatite, but tonight it had felt as if someone was violently stabbing him with a blunt knife.

Groaning slightly, he hoisted himself up, a hand on either side of the sink as it took the majority of his weight. As soon as he looked into the mirror, Jeongin cringed. Staring back at him was a sickly looking boy with dark eye bags and greyish skin, looking like death was on his way. He stood like that for a while, trying to get rid of the now pounding headache he had acquired when suddenly a strong wave of nausea hit him, causing him to fall to his knees in front of the toilet and empty out what little food was in his stomach.

After a while of dry heaving he finally stopped, his stomach realising that there was nothing left to rid itself off. Typically, as soon as the vomiting stopped the head ache and side pain came back, only this time both much more prominent and sharper.

Time passed by painfully slow as Jeongin miserably slumped against the bathroom wall, his eyes sealed shut to fend of the bright light with the only purpose of making his headache worse. Thankfully his hyungs were too tired from their busy schedules to be woken up easily and were all still fast asleep, blissfully unaware of the pain their maknae was going through.

Trying to breath through the pain, Jeongin made every breath slow, deep and even. Eventually the pain in his side subsided, leaving only the headache which he figured he'd be able to just sleep off.

Slowly and carefully, not wanting to make the pain in his head or side worse, Jeongin stood up and flushed the toilet of any evidence of the events that had taken place that night. He made his way to the light switch with both eyes still sealed shut, not wanting to end up kneeling in front of the toilet again. Using muscle memory he was able to make his way towards the light switch and flick it off. As soon as the light went off he carefully peeled open his eyes to the darkness of the dorm. By trailing his hand along the wall he was able to reach his room door in the darkness.

Carefully, Jeongin turned the door handle and cracked open the door, cringing each time a creek would come from the unoiled hinges. As soon as the door was open wide enough, Jeongin slid into the room a few of his sleeping hyungs were currently occupying. As fast and as quietly as he could considering he was in pain and extremely tired, he made his way past his hyungs and finally into his bed. Thanking god his bed was on the lower bunk, he slid into the messy bundle of covers he'd left, bring them over himself as he felt a sudden wave of coldness hit. Despite being knackered, it took Jeongin another uncomfortable and slightly painful hour before finally being invited into the land of nod.

 

* * *

Moring came all too soon for Jeongin who was shaken awake playfully by one of his hyungs he swore was trying to meet an early death. Groaning, he cracked open his eyes before quickly bringing a hand up to block the piercing rays of sun light.

"Finally! I thought you'd never wake up," Seungmin laughed as he stopped shaking Jeongin after seeing his eyes open, "good thing we don't have practice until the afternoon or you'd be screwed."

Groaning, Jeongin rolled his head over to check the time on his phone before groaning again. It was already 13:24.

"Are you okay?" Seungmin suddenly asked worriedly when Jeongin didn't playfully talk back or push him away like he normally would when someone woke him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," was all he got as a reply as Jeongin ran a hand through his hair tiredly as he sat up before continuing, "I'm going to get ready now." As soon as he stood up the same thing from the night before happened and he stumbled slightly, caught off guard from his sudden lack of coordination. Instantly, he could feel a mild headache coming on as he stabilised himself against the frame of the bunkbed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Seungmin asked again, only this time more worry and concern laced his words, the tone sounding foreign with his usual happy and carefree voice. Placing a hand carefully on Jeongin's shoulder, he went to lead him back to his bed before Jeongin suddenly pushed him away, rubbing his head with an annoyed look on his face as more pain took over, caused from the talking.

"I told you I'm fine," he snapped before quickly making his way out of the room, leaving Seungmin standing alone in shock. A few seconds later the slam of the bathroom door was heard echoing throughout the dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Like all my other fanfictions this will also be posted to my wattpad account where I go under the name @worldwideawesome_. It would mean a lot if you could also support me there! 
> 
> I've already started a new chapter so it should be out soon. Hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Jeongin’s hyungs start to realise there’s something wrong with their maknae.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got a new chapter out!
> 
> I just wanted to say thanks so much for all the support from the first chapter! It’s really means a lot :)
> 
> Hope you like the new chapter!

Once again, Jeongin found himself in the same position as the night before, leaning against the cold tiled wall of the bathroom weakly.

How was he meant to get through the rest of the day like this? He thought to himself miserably as his head kept pounding, causing a stray tear to escape from his eye and fall down one of his flushed cheeks, causing a wet trail to be left behind.

Slowly, he hoisted himself up onto the sink and reached for his toothbrush, trying to get ready for the long day he knew was waiting for him. Although practice was a lot shorter today as they had the morning off, Jeongin could tell the day would drag out. They had vocal practice first that started at half two which would last around three hours. After that they were planning to go for an early dinner before spending the rest of the night dancing until they got the choreography for their comeback down.

Although Jeongin knew he would be able to skip practice today if he told his hyungs he wasn't feeling well, he knew he couldn't afford to. He was already behind with the dance as him and Minho had had to take more concept photos after theirs were somehow lost while the others were at dance practice. Luckily for Minho he was a natural at dancing and wouldn't need to try that hard to get the dance down. Jeongin however knew he wasn't that lucky. Sure, he was a good dancer, but he certainly couldn't pick things up as quickly as Minho. And since the comeback was only in a few weeks they'd been working harder than ever to give the best comeback they could for STAYS, and Jeongin vowed that a stupid little bug wasn't going to cause him to ruin it.

Thankfully Jeongin's headache had gone down to a slightly dull ache by the time he'd finished getting ready, allowing him to brush it off as not having gotten a good nights sleep due to tossing and turning.

 

As he left the bathroom and neared the kitchen he could hear his hyungs talking loudly as they got lunch ready. Stopping outside the room for only a few seconds, Jeongin took a deep breath to make sure his headache wouldn't get worse from the noise and plastered his signature bright smile to his face so his hyungs wouldn't worry about him.

As soon as he walked in Jisung instantly pulled him into his lap.

"Look who's finally awake," he teased as his arms wrapped around Jeongin's small waist and held him tightly, his face disappearing into the nape of the maknae's neck.

"You can't say anything hyung," Jeongin laughed, trying to not let the now slight pain in his side from Jisung pressing onto it show, "you once slept till three in the afternoon."

"It was a day off!" Jisung whined from Jeongin's neck, burying his face deeper as his squirrel cheeks glowed a crimson red. The loud volume of his voice right next to Jeongin's ear caused him to wince a little as a quick, sharp pain passed through his head (thankfully this time as soon as it was there, it was gone).

"Yeah well this was a morning off," Jeongin countered good naturedly, hoping none of his hyungs had caught him wincing. As he looked up from Jisung, his eyes caught Changbin whom he forced a bright smile at as soon as he saw the concered look in the others eyes, knowing he'd seen the wince.

"Here we go," Woojin suddenly said as him, Chan and Felix emerged from the counter with nine plates filled with leftover kimbahp and rice from the night before, putting a plate in front of each seat. 

As soon as Jeongin moved from Jisung (despite the elder's protests) and sat down to his own plate, he knew for a fact he wasn't going to be able to stomach it. He'd been eating noticeably less the past few weeks due to his sudden lack of an apatite but at least he could normally eat about half the plate before he couldn't eat anymore. Unknown to his knowledge his hyungs had also picked up on his sudden lack of eating and to say they were worried was an understatement. 

Jeongin sat and picked at his food for a while as his hyungs made their way through their own meal before Chan finally spoke up. "Aren't you going to eat that?" he asked, his tone light but his eyes betraying him as worry was clearly displayed in them.

"Nah, I'm not that hungry," was all Jeongin replied before putting down his chopsticks, indicating he wasn't going to eat anything, "does anyone want it?"

"You should probably eat something," Hyungin quickly replied while pushing Jeongin's plate back towards him, "we have a busy day and I doubt you can get by on an empty stomach."

"I'll just have an apple instead," Jeongin said before quickly standing up and walking over to the fruit basket,hoping he could make it out the room before his hyungs stopped him. Once he retrieved his apple, he quickly walking out of the room, shouting a quick, "thanks though," over his shoulder.

As soon as he got out of the room he quickly headed to his bedroom. When he arrived he quickly shoved the apple he'd taken into his bag in case he decided he wanted it later, but for just now he knew he couldn't stomach it. He'd only really taken it for show so that his hyungs weren't worried about his lack of an apatite.

 

After about twenty minutes of flicking through his phone while lying down, someone finally walked into the room. Felix walked over to his bed on the other side of the room from Jeongin before walking over to him, earphones now in hand.

"You ready to go?" He asked in his deep voice as his pinky finger wrapped around Jeongin's own, gently tugging the younger up.

"Mmmm," Jeongin groaned as he stretched his arm and used Felix to pull himself into a sitting position, "ready as I'll ever be," he joked before letting out a long yawn.

Chuckling, Felix ruffled his maknaes hair affectionately before slipping his hand onto the back of his neck, massaging it gently. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" He asked tenderly, his deep voice soothing Jeongin along with the massage, making it a difficult task for Jeongin to not just fall asleep right there.

"I'm sure hyung," Jeongin replied, brushing off Felix's hand while standing up. As soon as he was standing he stretched his arms above his head, trying to loosen his limbs, when suddenlya sharp pain ran up his side, causing his arms to full down quickly as a hiss of pain emerged from his mouth.

As soon as the hiss left his lips, Felix quickly and worriedly came to the younger's side.

"Are you okay?" Felix asked, worry clearly written all over his face and voice. "Actually don't answer that," he said, backtracking on his previous comment, "you're staying here today. I'll go tell Chan you're not well and make sure I can stay here with you."

"No!" Jeongin replied a bit too quickly, trying to avoid the one thing he was desperate to prevent, "I...I just moved too quickly. I'm fine, see," he said while plastering a smile onto his face and walked away.

Felix watched unconvinced as Jeongin walked out of the bedroom door and into the hallway. He know the maknae well enough to know the difference between his real smile and fake one, and the one he'd just put on was definitely fake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that!   
> This chapter came out later than I was hoping so sorry for that. Even though exams have finally ended (yey!) things have been pretty busy at school as I'm now in my last year. I've also had a load of university open days recently so my schedules been pretty full.  
> A new chapter should hopefully be out soon and since it's the summer in a few more weeks there should be a lot more out then!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something major happens and the hyungs can’t do anything to help their maknae.

The afternoon was going better than expected for Jeongin. Thankfully the vocal lesson so far was pretty easy since he'd already done most of his recordings, meaning it was only a matter of practicing and perfecting his voice.

Could he say he was no longer ill? No. But could he say he was feeling a little bit better than he had that morning? Yes. Well... that was until a break was called and Jisung decided to be a good friends and randomly jump on his back, causing a sharp pain to travel up his side just like earlier. Unaware of his maknaes discomfort, Jisung proceeded to place an overdramatic sloppy kiss right on Jeongin's cheek, causing the younger to groan in disgust (and slight pain) as he wiped the residue off his face with his sleeve.

"Hyung," Jeongin groaned, not feeling up to his hyungs antics today.

"What?" Jisung asked innocently, still hanging off Jeongin, "can a hyung not show some love for his adorable maknae?"

"Hey!" was suddenly shouted from across the room as Hyunjin walked over to them, Minho in tow, "why do you get him all to yourself? He's our maknae too," he said with a small, playful pout on his lips.

"Nope, all mine," Jisung stated, hugging Jeongin closer to himself, his pout giving Hyunjin's a run for its money.

"But I want him," Minho whined,  speaking up as he wrapped his arms around Jeongin's left side as if he were claiming his territory. Usually Jeongin loved his hyungs attention, able to get it any time he wanted - especially as the maknae. Today though, he wished they'd just leave him alone, especially since their arms seemed to be putting extra pressure around his right side as they hugged him. Coincidently, the side he felt he was being stabbed on.

The last straw was when Hyungin suddenly jumped onto his right side, wrapping his arms tightly around the smaller boy and pulling him towards himself playfully. They normally did this sort of thing so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, well, at least not for the others it wasn't. But for Jeongin, that's when the pain started to get remarkably worse.

Quickly, he pushed his hyungs off him, wincing in pain at the quick movements. He couldn't help it though, he needed out of there, feeling claustrophobic with someone each side of him along with the severe pain he was now facing.

As soon as he was free, he stumbled to his feet, swaying slightly.

"Yah!" Jisung shouted as he fell back onto the floor, thinking Jeongin had pushed them away disrespectfully, "get your attitude sort..." he started but trailed off as he finally looked at Jeongin's sickly, swaying figure.

"Jeongin, are you okay?" Minho asked gently, placing a careful hand onto the youngers shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I'll be fine," he replied by mumbling as if he were trying to reassuring himself, brushing off Minho's hand at the same time.

The whole scene had attracted the attention of the other hyungs who'd been watching it play out from afar, too confused at what they were watching to do anything. That was until Jeongin let out a pained scream through his teeth and doubled over, his arms wrapping around his stomach.

Immediately, everyone in the room were on their feet. Minho, being the closest having already ran to his side, trying to gently walk him over to the sofa. However, this failed when Jeongin suddenly collapsed to the ground, no longer conscious.

"Jeongin!" Chan shrieked as he ran over to the younger and kneeled down, placing the maknaes head on his lap. Changbin and Felix not far behind, each of them reaching for one of Jeongin's hands as they tried desperately to gently wake him, the rest all crowding around worriedly.

"I'm calling an ambulance," Woojin announced, worry and fear lacing his tone as he quickly pulled out his phone, his hands shaking as he typed in the numbers.

 

* * *

 

It didn't take long before the paramedics were rushing through the doors, a stretcher in tow. As soon as Jeongin was safely on the stretcher and being rushed out, one of the paramedics came over to the boys.

"Can one of you please come with us to tell us what happened?" she asked, seeming rushed.

"Can't we all go?" Seungmin asked while wiping a few of the tears trailing down his usually happy face.

"I'm sorry but there's only space for one of you," the paramedic explained, "now I hate to rush you but can you please decide quickly, the ambulance will be leaving soon."

"Of course," Chan said before turning to Minho, "you were the closest to him when it happened, I think you should go."

Shocked, Minho just nodded. He'd figured Chan or Woojin would go considering they were the eldest and they were like the parents of the group.

As the paramedic rushed Minho out of the room he heard Woojin shout to him, "we'll meet you at the hospital soon!" before the door closed.

 

* * *

 

Eventually, everyone was in the hospital waiting room, the others haven gotten a lift from their Manager whom Seungmin had thankfully decided to call as soon as Jeongin had collapsed.

The waiting room was filled with people of all ages. There were children running around, playing with pencils which lay scattered across desks. The adults and elder people sat civilly, making small talk every so often as they read the magazines left for their entertainment.

"Is there anyone here for Yang Jeongin?" A doctor suddenly asked as he made his way into the waiting room.

As soon as the name left his lips all 8 boys plus their manager were on their feet.

"Yes, is he okay?" Their manager asked, beating them all to it.

"Hello, my name is Doctor Park. I think it would be best to talk in my office privately, so if you could please follow me," the doctor said, causing dread to fill the others.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" Felix instantly asked, fearing for his maknae.

"If you could please follow me sir and I'll explain everything." The doctor answered, looking at Felix sympathetically, "I also know you are famous so it would probably be in the best interest for all of you if this wasn't discussed publicly," his last statement being directed towards their manager.

"You're right, lets go boys," their manager said while walking towards the doctor, causing the others to follow.

As soon as they were in the office and comfortably sat on seats (some having to sit on each other’s laps as there weren’t enough chairs), the doctor turned back towards them.

"Now, we currently have Yang Jeongin in surgery," Doctor Park started, causing all hell to break lose as everyone spoke over each other.

Holding his hand up calmly to try and get everyone quite he tried to continue, "I will answer all questions at the end." With that everyone was silent.

"Thank you," the doctor said before continuing," as I said, Jeongin was rushed into an emergency surgery due to a ruptured appendix. Because of the amount of bacteria that was let out when the appendix burst we are unable to say just how long the surgery will last."

"Will he be okay though?" Jisung asked from the corner of the room, his voice making him seem small.

"That's actually the reason I wanted to talk to you all in private," the Doctor Park stated sadly.

"What's that supposed to mean? He going to be okay right?" Changbin spoke up from where he was comforting Felix and Hyungin, worry written all over his face and laced into his words.

"Since we didn't catch his appendix before it ruptured and since there was some time between when it ruptured to when he got here a lot of bacteria has spread and may be infecting his other organs,” he explained, taking a few seconds for everyone to process the information before proceeding, "now, thankfully the intestines act as a barrier for the bacteria, however, we are unsure yet how much damage has been caused and if the intestine has been able to save the other organs."

"So what does that mean for Jeongin? You'll be able to help him right?" Chan asked slowly, already dreading the answer.

"Well, we're hoping we've caught it just in time. If that's the case then it'll just be a matter of removing the appendix and clearing up the bacteria," Doctor Park started optimistically.

"And if you're too late?" Woojin asked this time, trying desperately to push away the tears clouding his vision, wanting to be strong for his dongsaengs’ sake.

"Then, I'm sorry to say, but the chance of survival will be extremely slim," Doctor Park sighed, leaving everyone else in shock. Their maknae could die. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Sorry it took a while. A new chapter (and possibly the final one) should be up soon so stay tuned!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final Chapter!!!!

The waiting room was painfully quiet as the eight, usually hyper boys, sat silently. Their manager had left about an hour ago, claiming he had to sort out some things. He had offered to take them back to their dorm, promising he'd call them if there was any word from the hospital. But of course, they refused, not wanting to go anywhere until their maknae was back safely in their arms.

They'd all given up the concept of talking. And for the first time, none of them knew what to say to each other. Instead they resorted to sitting in silence, all left to their own thoughts. Despite the silence, not one of them sat alone. All of them clinging to each other, wanting as much skin ship as they could get.

It had been around 2 hours since Jeongin had been rushed into surgery. 2 hours too long for their liking.

So far they had no news on how it was going. Every so often one of them would ask the receptionist for any word of what was happening, each time receiving a little shake of the head and told that they'd inform them if anything was heard.

"This is all my fault," Seungmin said suddenly, breaking the silence and shocking every one out of their own thoughts.

"What do you mean?" Woojin asked worriedly, tightening his hold on the younger as a means of comfort, "you couldn't have prevented this."

"He was acting weird this morning and I knew he wasn't feeling well but I figured it was just a little bug and didn't want to hurt his pride by calling him out on it," Seungmin replied, more tears now streaking down his already tear stained face, "if I had told someone or called him out on it then maybe this wouldn't have happened. My only dongsaengs and I can't even act like a proper hyung."

At those last words Felix decided to but in.

"If it's your fault then it's mines as well," he said sadly, "before we left I noticed he wasn't himself but he was so sure he was fine so I just left it."

"Look," Chan started, knowing the feeling his dongsaengs were going through and hating that they felt that way, "None of us are to blame. Sure, we all noticed something was wrong and did nothing about it, but how could we have known it'd turn out like this? If we'd known how it'd end up then yes, it was our fault. But the fact is we had no clue what would happen, so we shouldn't beat ourselves up about it."

"Still though," Seungmin sighed, rubbing the tears out of his left eye, "I can't help but feel guilty. Like I could've done something."

"I know, but you shouldn't blame yourself," Chan replied gently before looking at the rest and adding, "none of you should."

"Excuse me," a young nurse suddenly said, giving the boys a fright as they hadn't seen her, "are you here for Yang Jeongin?"

Suddenly everyone was sitting up, no longer paying attention to their previous conversation.

"Yes, is he okay? Can we see him?" Minho instantly asked as he sat on the edge of his seat.

"All I can tell you about the surgery is it was successful and you'll be able to see him soon," she said with a smile at seeing the relief flood the faces of the eight boys in front of her.

"How soon?" Jisung asked this time, the smile plastered on his face resembling the sun.

"Very soon," the nurse laughed light heartedly at his enthusiasm, "Doctor Park just wants to see you first before you see your friend."

"Okay," Woojin said, taking the role of the eldest as he stood up first and made his way the short distance over to the nurse, "could you please take us to him?"

"Of course. This way please," the nurse simply replied as she turned around and started to lead the boys into the corridors of the hospital.

 

"Here we are," she eventually said after walking through what seemed like the same corridor 50 times. Carefully, she opened the door and poked her head in before saying to the person behind the door, "The people for Yang Jeongin are here."

"Thank you , just send them in," a voice they recognised as Doctor Park replied from behind the door before the nurse stepped back and gestured for them to entre.

"Hello, please have a seat boys," Doctor Park said as soon as they entered the room, looking up from a few papers in front of him. Like before, there weren't enough seats for all of them, causing them to have to resort to sitting on armrests and each others laps. They didn't care though, gratefully savouring all the skin ship they could receive.

"Well, as you've hopefully all been informed, Yang Jeongin's surgery was a success despite the odds against it," he started, smiling brightly as his gaze moved around the room, landing on each boy.

"When can we see him?" Hyungin butted in, speaking up for the first time that night.

"Soon, we just need to make sure all of his vitals are in check then you'll be free to visit him," he replied before continuing in a more serious tone, "we're not sure yet when he'll wake up but it'll at least be a couple of hours so when you're visiting please try and be as quiet as you can."

 

* * *

 

It was another 20 minutes until they were finally able to visit their maknae.

When they entered the room, the first thing they saw was a small body lying the middle of a bed.

Although they always viewed Jeongin as their baby, seeing him lying there made him look so much younger than he actually was.

There were two comfy chairs on either side of the bed which Woojin and Changbin occupied with Felix perched on Changbin's lap and Seungmin on Woojin's. The rest were standing around the sleeping maknae, careful to not be too loud.

"He looks so small," Minho whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, his voice cracking a little from crying earlier.

No one replied. No one could reply. It was too hard for them to see their precious baby helpless and sick, lying lifelessly in a hospital bed. Multiple wires were connected to his arms and attached to different machines and bags of fluids.

His pale and sickly complexion scared them despite knowing he was going to be okay. The only thing reassuring them was the gentle rise and fall of the youngers chest.

 

* * *

 

Hyunjin's eyes slipped open as he felt a small movement next to him and a little groan. He'd been in a light sleep and tossing and turning the whole night, trying to fall asleep. Finally he'd given up on sleep and decided to just sit in one of the chairs beside Jeongin's bed, he guessed though he must've fallen asleep.

The hospital staff had allowed them all to stay the night as Jeongin had a private room and his eight hyungs clearly had no intensions of leaving without at least having seen their maknae awake and healthy. Another major reason for staying was none of them wanted their baby to wake up in a strange room with wires attached to him alone.

Focusing his attention to what woke him up, he saw Jeongin's face scrunched up slightly as if he were having a bad dream.

"Hey, Jeongin," he called quietly as he gently shook the youngers shoulder.

A groan was heard as Jeongin moved slightly, clearly uncomfortable with all the wires attached to him. Slowly, his eyes started to flutter open, his eyes slightly glazed over after being asleep for so long.

"Hey, you're awake," Hyunjin stated as he made his way into Jeongin's line of sight. Smiling fondly at Jeongin's delirious and confused expression.

Turning around to where the rest of his group were piled up sleeping, he called out to wake them.

"Guys," he called over, careful as to not scare Jeongin who seemed to still be out of it (probably curtesy of the drugs he was on).

"Mmmm," Jisung groaned, cuddling into Minho more than he already was, "what is it?"

"Jeongin's awake," Hyunjin simply replied, smirking as Jisung suddenly jumped up, causing Minho to wake up in surprise.

"Guys! Jeongin's awake!" Jisung shouted excitedly before clamping a hand over his mouth after receiving a death glare and a "shhhhh" from Hyunjin.

"Sorry," he mouthed, a teasing smirk playing on his lips.

Due to the shouting Jeongin was now a little more awake than last time.

"Hyung?" he asked quietly as he looked around the white room, his voice a bit hoarse due to lack of water.

"Hyungs' here," Hyunjin replied, turning his gaze back to the maknae, running a hand through his slightly tangled hair, "how are you feeling?"

Before Jeonign could reply a commotion was heard from across the room as everyone started to wake up, still drowsy from their little (and uncomfortable) sleep.

"Jeonginie!" Chan shouted, pushing Felix out the way as he ran over to the bed, ignoring Felix's protests. As soon as he reached Jeongin's side he leaned down and took the boy into a big, careful hug.

As soon as Jeongin was in Chan's arms, Woojin was on the other side of him, having done the same as Chan but this time pushing Hyunjin out of the way to get there.

"Innie! Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Oh my gosh, I was so scared," Woojin fussed as he went to hug Jeongin after Chan reluctantly let go.

"Where are we? What happened?" Jeongin asked as soon as he was free from Woojin's grasp.

"You're in the hospital," Minho answered as he made his way over to the bed. Upon hearing this Jeongin's eyes shot open in worry and fear, causing Minho to back track, "it's okay though, you're fine now. Just need to take it easy."

"What happened?" Jeongin asked again, looking around at his hyungs as they started to gather by his bed side.

"Your appendix burst," Chan replied, taking one of Jeongin's small hands into his own.

"B..but how?" Jeongin asked before cutting himself off with a little "oh" as if he remembered something.

"What is it?" Felix instantly asked, worry creasing his brows.

"Nothing, it's just that kinda makes sense now," was all Jeongin replied, confusing his hyungs even more.

"What do you mean it makes sense?" Changbin asked, his tone full of worry but also displaying a slight anger that Jeongin heard and cowered slightly away from. At seeing his maknae cowering away from him, Changbin placed a hand on Jeongin's leg and mumbled a "sorry".

"Well, I'd been getting a pain in my side recently, I just never imagined it was appendicitis," he replied, moving the tiny distance back towards Changbin.

After a few seconds of silence (but what felt like an eternity)Minho finally decided to ask the question on everyone's mind.

"So why didn't you tell us you weren't feeling well?" 

Silence. 

Suddenly to Jeongin, the bed sheet that lay over him seemed like the most interesting thing in the world as he started to pick at it.

"Innie, please tell us. You scared us so much, the least you could do is tell us why you felt like you couldn't tell us," Seungmin said, tearing Jeongin's small hands away from the covers and into his own hands.

"It's not that I didn't trust yous enough to tell you," Jeongin started, still avoiding everyone's eyes, "it's just..."

"It's just," Changbin pushed, trying to figure out what was going though his mind.

"Well, our comebacks soon and I know my dancing and singing is far from being perfect so I figured I didn't have enough time to be sick and I'd just try and work through it," he explained in a small voice before adding, "I just don't like it when I drag yous down all the time so I wanted to work harder," causing his hyungs hearts to simultaneously break. How could their precious baby think his performance was so bad that he didn't even deserve a break when he was sick?

"Hey, don't say that," Felix said sadly, not understanding how Jeongin - the boy whose smile could light up the whole room - could think that about himself, "your performance doesn't drag us down, in fact, it does the opposite. We wouldn't be stray kids without you."

"Look, what happened was really dangerous. For gods sake, your appendix burst and you almost died," Chan said, the tone of his voice making Jeongin flinch but finally look up.

"What I think Chan is trying to say," Woojin cut Chan off while giving the said man a pointed look before looking back to Jeongin, gaze gentler, "is that what you did was really dangerous and clearly, if you were sick enough for your appendix to burst, then you must have been feeling pretty sick. This could've ended much worse than it did and you need to understand that your health is way more important then whether our comeback stage is perfect or not."

"I'm sorry," Jeongin mumbled, feeling bad for worrying his hyungs, "I really just thought it was a little bug."

"We know," Jisung spoke up this time from the arm rest he was perched on, "but you need to take better care of yourself, especially since we're becoming more famous and our schedules are getting busier."

"Promise you'll come to us next time you feel even the slightest bit under the weather?" Hyunjin asked while making eye contact with Jeongin, making the younger feel even more guilty for all the worry and stress he'd caused.

"I promise," Jeongin replied, his tone genuine, "I really am sorry for worrying yous."

"It's okay baby, I'm sorry for shouting. We just got a fright from almost losing you," Chan said, this time in a gentle tone as he brushed a stray hair from Jeongin's eyes, "we just love you a lot and couldn't stand the thought of something bad happening to you."

"I love you guys too," Jeongin replied with a small smile and flushed cheeks that he tried to hide subtly from his hyungs, only resulting in them cooing at him. 

In that moment he finally understood just how much his hyungs cared for him, making his heart fill up with happiness. He really did love his hyungs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks so much for sticking with this book until the end! This is the final chapter so I hope you all enjoyed it and the story as a whole. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Like all my other fanfictions this will also be posted to my wattpad account where I go under the name @worldwideawesome_. It would mean a lot if you could also support me there!


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